Cleveland State Community College will begin selling tickets to the public this October to come and hear the father of football’s first family, Archie Manning. One of the biggest names in sports around the globe, Manning will be speaking at the L. Quentin Lane Center in August 2020.

“We are so excited to bring someone as accomplished as Archie Manning to Cleveland State,” said Dr. Bill Seymour, CSCC President. “This will be a special time for our region. We wanted the speaker we chose to be just as special. Someone who could really inspire those who take part.”

The special ticketed event is the feature piece of CSCC’s 2020 Homecoming and Alumni Celebration Weekend. Among the other events taking place will be a CSCC Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony and CSCC Golf Tournament. Dates and times for Manning’s speaking engagement, as well as the other events being held during the August 2020 celebration, will be released in October.

These days, CSCC’s special guest speaker is most commonly known for being the father of two future National Football League Hall Of Famers. Eli and Peyton Manning, both former NFL Super Bowl MVP’s, along with their brother, Cooper, are the three children of Manning and his wife, Olivia. A native of Drew, Mississippi, Manning is a member of the College Football Hall Of Fame.

Beyond being a former collegiate and professional football player himself, Manning has served on numerous charitable organizations throughout the United States. The former Ole Miss quarterback, as well as his son, Peyton, were selected as two of college football’s greatest players of all time. In addition to his second overall draft pick in the NFL’s 1971 draft, Manning was also drafted by Major League Baseball on four different occasions.

Manning had his jerseys retired from Ole Miss and the New Orleans Saints. Although the Saints do not officially retire numbers of former players, his jersey still hangs from the rafters of the Louisiana Superdome. As well, no other player has worn his number eight for the black and gold since his retirement.

For more information on the event, contact CSCC’s Director of Communications and Marketing Don Foley at 423.473.2341 or dfoley@clevelandstatecc.edu.

CSCC is the College System of Tennessee’s College of the Year for 2019. The local institution received the Statewide Outstanding Achievement Recognition, or SOAR, Award after being named the College of the Year honor during an awards ceremony last March.

The College System of Tennessee is the state’s largest public higher education system, with 13 community colleges, 27 colleges of applied technology and the online TN eCampus serving more than 110,000 students.